Resilient Eagles move onward

Wednesday

Oct 26, 2011 at 12:07 AM

Jeff Cochran

Last week was filled with gut-punching lows and jubilant highs for Athens Christian, which makes it a fitting part of the Eagles’ 2011 season.

The week started with Athens Christian being forced to forfeit three games because of the use of an ineligible player. It ended with the Eagles celebrating their first win over Athens Academy in the eight-game history between the rivals, beating the Spartans 13-7.

That is just the latest example of the players on the Eagles’ roster overcoming a difficult situation.

“I think our players and staff did a good job of rallying,” coach Steve Brooks said. “Our leadership did a good job of stepping up. I think our seniors really did a good job of rallying the troops. We feel very fortunate because that game could have gone either way. They have a great staff and a great group of players.”

The season started with a coaching change, as the veteran Brooks took over for Bill Forman, who resigned after two seasons with the Eagles.

Brooks’ first two games at Athens Christian did not go well. In the season opener, the Eagles lost a nail-biter to Oglethorpe County 23-21. The following week, the Eagles were routed by Landmark Christian 69-28.

“It has been a great fall,” Brooks said. “They have hung tough and stayed together.”

Then the injury bug hit. The Eagles were without starting left tackle Blake Crispino and freshman linebacker Keunte Oglesby prior to last Friday’s game against the Spartans.

Arguably the biggest loss, however, was a season-ending injury to the team’s fullback and leading tackler Malik Sims, who went down with a broken foot in Week 4 against Banks County.

“The big one was Malik,” Brooks said. “He was our emotional leader, a starter on both sides of the ball. He was one of our few true starters on both sides. He had a great night that night but ended up hurting his foot really bad. … But we practice every kid and taught them two offensive positions and two defensive positions, which really made a difference. We had that plan from day one.”

Two weeks later, before the Eagles game against Commerce, starting running back Travis Wildgoose from the Bahamas was declared ineligible by the Georgia High School Association. Athens Christian was routed in that game against Commerce, 41-0.

After an investigation that lasted nearly a month, the GHSA told Athens Christian that it was going to be forced to forfeit the three consecutive wins it accumulated from Sept. 2 to Sept. 23. That span included a 35-0 region win over Social Circle.

“The seniors all had a talk after the controversy and we talked about how it was our last season,” quarterback Zack Resop said. “We might as well go all out and give everything we’ve got. If you don’t, you’ll regret it.”

Yet despite all the trials and tribulations, Athens Christian is still just one game shy of its first GHSA playoff berth.

The Eagles are a half-game ahead of Athens Academy for fourth place in Region 8-A at 2-2. One more win will guarantee that Athens Christian will do no worse than 3-3, which is the best Athens Academy can do.

If the Eagles and Spartans are tied at the end of the season, Athens Christian will get the nod because of its head-to-head tiebreaker.

“We talk about that as a staff every week, getting to the end of the season and pulling in the same direction,” Brooks said. “This team likes each other and works very hard. We have a long way to go, but we have come a long way. … This is make-or-break time.”

Athens Christian has a tough road in front of it to get to the playoffs. The Eagles will travel to Prince Avenue (8-0, 4-0) on Friday to face a Wolverines’ team vying for the region title. The next week, they will host George Walton Academy (6-2, 3-1).

“It is really exciting, but we aren’t focused on the playoffs right now,” Resop said. “We are focused on Prince Avenue. They have a great team.”

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